Fox Cricket


Fox Cricket is an Australian subscription television channel dedicated to screening cricket matches and related programming. It is owned by Fox Sports Pty Limited and is available throughout Australia on Foxtel. The channel was launched on 17 September 2018.

History

Since its launch in 1995 as Premier Sports Network, Fox Sports has been broadcaster to most of Australian international tours despite lacking domestic Australian international rights which has been a mainstay at the Nine Network since 1979. The first major cricket event that was broadcast on PSN was Australia's tour of the West Indies in 1995 which was also the first on pay television in Australia. Nine who up to 1995 had broadcast on free-to-air had tried to keep off PTV under Australia's anti-siphoning rules, which rules that certain events cannot be screened exclusively on pay television. Ultimately a deal was signed with Network Ten to the broadcast series on FTA while also being on PTV with PSN. From 2005/06 to 2012/13 Fox Sports had exclusive rights to domestic cricket in Australia including most or all of the then Ford Ranger One-Day cup and KFC Big Bash T20 matches including the first 2 seasons of the Big Bash League along with the final of the Sheffield Shield, Fox also had highlights of international men's Test, ODI and T20 matches in Australia. In 2013, Fox Sports lost the rights of the BBL to Network Ten and the Ryobi One-Day Cup to the Nine Network for the next 5 years with international cricket in Australia remaining on Nine. Most overseas cricket broadcast stayed on Fox except for Ashes tours of England which Nine had exclusive rights to while the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup which was held in Australia was broadcast on Fox Sports along with Nine.
In April 2018, Fox Sports came to a six-year agreement with Cricket Australia that expanded their previous coverage of cricket on the Foxtel platform. This deal formed a part of Cricket Australia's six year overall coverage deal which also includes free to air coverage by Channel Seven.
In early May, Foxtel announced the upcoming creation of a dedicated channel, Fox Cricket, featuring the entire Australian Summer of international cricket from 2018 and 2019 including tests, one day matches and T20 matches as well as the Big Bash Leagues and World Cups. The channel debuted on 17 September 2018, with the 2018 Caribbean Premier League final being the first live match broadcast.

Programming

Event coverage

Sports programming on Fox Cricket includes the following:
; Australian national cricket team
; Australian domestic leagues
  • Sheffield Shield selected matches including final
  • Marsh One-Day Cup, selected matches including finals
  • BBL every game including finals
  • WBBL every game including finals
; Home series of other national teams
; Other tournaments
Fox Cricket will air several studio shows including the programs listed below:
  • B4 The Bash!
  • Come In Spinner
  • Crash The Bash
  • Cricket 360
  • Cricket A.M.
  • Cricket Legends
  • Fox Cricket Classics
  • Tea For Two
  • Test Cricket Live On Fox
  • Test Day
  • The Big Break
  • The Blast
  • The Cricket Tragic
  • ''The Night Watchmen''

    Personnel

Media outlets announced a number of key hosting and commentary personnel in the lead up to the 2018–19 cricket season.
Network personalities and the media attended the launch for Fox Cricket on 9 October 2018. Further key hosting personnel were announced, in addition to new programming for the forthcoming summer.

Commentators

  • Alex Blackwell
  • Allan Border
  • Stuart Clark
  • Adam Gilchrist
  • Isa Guha
  • Brad Haddin
  • Mark Howard
  • Michael Hussey
  • Mel Jones
  • Brendon Julian
  • Brett Lee
  • Darren Lehmann
  • Morne Morkel
  • Chris Lynn
  • Kerry O'Keeffe
  • Adam Peacock
  • Rob Quiney
  • Ian Smith
  • Brenton Speed
  • Michael Vaughan
  • David Warner
  • Mark Waugh

    International commentators

  • Wasim Akram
  • Russel Arnold
  • Harsha Bhogle
  • Brian Lara
  • Shaun Pollock
  • Ravi Shastri
  • Graeme Smith
  • Ian Smith

    Presenters

  • Megan Barnard
  • Sarah Jones
  • Kath Loughnan

    Former commentators

  • John Hastings
  • Ian Healy
  • Mitchell Johnson
  • Neroli Meadows
  • Shane Warne
  • Tom Morris
  • Andrew Symonds

    Hosts

The Big Break
  • Mark Howard
  • Isa Guha
Come In Spinner
  • Mark Howard
  • Kerry O'Keeffe
Test Day
  • Isa Guha
  • Brendon Julian
Cricket Legends
  • Robert 'Crash' Craddock
Cricket A.M.
  • Jim Callinan
  • Kath Loughnan
  • Neroli Meadows
Crash The Bash
  • Lee Carseldine
Fox Cricket Classics
  • Mark Howard
The Cricket Tragic
  • Gus Worland
The Blast
  • Megan Barnard
  • Mel Jones
The Night Watchmen
  • James 'The Professor' Rochford
  • Andrew 'Barney' Barnett
  • Nick Rado
  • Sam Taunton
  • Kath Loughnan

    Commentators

Men's internationals

Current
Past
Current
Past
Present
  • Brendon Julian 2018/19–
  • Adam Peacock 2019/20–
  • Brenton Speed 2021/22–
  • Kerry O'Keeffe 2018/19–
  • Morne Morkel 2021/22–
  • Stuart Clark 2021/22–
Past
  • Allan Border 2018/19–
  • Brad Haddin 2019/20–
  • Mark Howard 2018/19–
  • Michael Hussey 2018/19–
  • Mel Jones 2018/19–
  • Brett Lee 2018/19–
  • Andrew Symonds 2018/19–
  • Mark Waugh
  • Chris Lynn
  • Corbin Middlemas
  • Tom Morris
  • Rob Quiney

    Big Bash League

Present
  • Callum Ferguson, Big Bash
  • John Hastings Marsh Cup
  • Alyssa Healy Marsh Cup
  • Darren Lehmann
  • Chris Lynn
  • Corbin Middlemas
  • Adam Peacock
  • Rob Quiney

    Women's Big Bash League

Current
  • Megan Barnard 2018/19–
  • Mel Jones 2018/19–
  • Brenton Speed 2021/22–
  • Ben Homer 2021/22–
  • Alex Blackwell 2018/19–
  • Erin Burns 2020/21–
  • Morne Morkel 2021/22–
  • Mel Farrell 2021/22–
  • Adam Peacock 2021/22–
Past
2018 Women's T20 World Cup
  • Neroli Meadows
  • Alex Blackwell
  • Mel Jones
  • Darren Lehmann
  • Isa Guha
  • Alex Blackwell
2019 Cricket World Cup
  • Brendon Julian
  • Tom Morris
  • Andrew Symonds
  • Allan Border
  • Mark Waugh
  • Adam Gilchrist
  • Brett Lee
  • Kerry O'Keeffe
  • Chris Lynn
2020 Women's T20 World Cup
  • Megan Barnard
  • Mel Jones
  • Isa Guha
  • Alex Blackwell
2021 Men's T20 World Cup
  • Brendon Julian
  • Mark Waugh
  • Kerry O'Keeffe
  • Brett Lee
  • Brad Haddin